Safeguarding training for volunteers
Volunteers are often used by organisations to tap into a community of people who would like to offer their skills and experience for free. This is common in the third sector, which consists of not-for-profit and community organisations. The benefits of volunteers to these types of organisations are that they can then extend their service capacity, reach and quality without the associated costs and use a range of skills that the current workforce may not have.
These volunteers may directly interact with clients, stakeholders and customers and due to their less formal roles, they can often gain more detailed insights into these client groups than staff members do. However, this can be risky, as they may develop quite close relationships with an organisation’s client base which may go unnoticed by the organisation. Therefore it is important to put safeguarding policies and processes in place and ensure safeguarding training for volunteers.
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding involves ensuring the safety and well-being of vulnerable individuals, such as children and adults at risk. Organisations that come into contact with these vulnerable groups of individuals must implement measures to ensure these people are protected from harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation and adhere to any relevant safeguarding legislation and statutory requirements. These measures should be formalised in comprehensive safeguarding policies that all staff members should be aware of, and more importantly, they must also be communicated to volunteers who interact with your client base. It is also important that these policies are related to a volunteer’s specific role and responsibilities and that you regularly review your programmes for safeguarding training for volunteers.
This article examines the steps that any organisation should take so that they have sufficient safeguarding processes and procedures in place for any volunteers who may work with their stakeholders, whether these are clients or staff. These steps include providing relevant safeguarding training for volunteers, completing comprehensive risk assessments to mitigate any concerns, ensuring volunteers understand the organisation’s safeguarding policies and how it applies to their roles, conducting safer recruitment checks and implementing support and supervision initiatives for volunteers.
Safeguarding risk assessments
You should conduct thorough risk assessments to identify potential safeguarding risks that may involve your volunteers. The analysis should include a comprehensive review of each volunteer’s role and activities, the location where these activities take place and the nature of their interactions with clients. Once you have compiled a list of potential risks, you can begin to implement targeted measures to mitigate the identified risks effectively.
Safeguarding policies
To ensure effective safeguarding measures for volunteers, you need to establish clear, detailed safeguarding policies that outline procedures for protecting vulnerable individuals you may come into contact with. These policies should clearly communicate the organisation’s commitment to safeguarding and define the roles and responsibilities of individuals in fulfilling these commitments.
From these policies, volunteers should understand how to take action if they have concerns, including the process for raising and reporting concerns or incidents, whether actual, alleged or suspected. This includes specifying who to report concerns to and how to accurately document and record the information.
Safeguarding policies can be communicated to volunteers through safeguarding training or in the form of a written document that volunteers must read and sign to confirm their understanding. These policies and safeguarding training for volunteers should be regularly reviewed and updated to remain effective and compliant with current safeguarding legislation and safeguarding best practices.
Safeguarding training for volunteers
As mentioned in the previous sections, it is important to provide safeguarding training for volunteers on the organisation’s safeguarding policies and their safeguarding duties. Training should cover the following areas:
Recognising signs of abuse and neglect:
- Identify early signs of abuse and neglect.
- Understand how to respond confidently and make appropriate decisions regarding safeguarding concerns.
Familiarity with reporting procedures:
- Understand the procedures for reporting safeguarding concerns and the importance of maintaining confidentiality.
Supporting vulnerable individuals:
- Learn how to provide immediate responses, such as offering medical care.
- Be able to provide long-term support strategies, encompassing practical, financial and emotional support.
Understanding legal frameworks:
- Educate volunteers about the legal frameworks that underpin safeguarding practices.
Safer recruitment practices
To ensure the suitability of volunteers for their roles and to promote safeguarding within your organisation, you should look to implement a ‘safer recruitment’ process. This process should include the following key measures:
Clear role descriptions
Develop detailed role descriptions that outline the required skills, experience and time commitment for each volunteer position as well as clearly stating the expectations for promoting safeguarding and the volunteer’s level of responsibility involving children, young people and adults at risk.
Background checks
Conduct background checks to identify potential risks and verify that volunteers possess the necessary qualifications for their role.
Robust interviews
Assess each volunteer’s suitability through interviews that review their attitudes towards vulnerable groups of people they may interact with during their volunteer work.
References
Obtain a minimum of two references to provide an independent perspective on the volunteer’s skills, reliability and attitude towards working with children and/or vulnerable adults.
DBS checks
For volunteer roles that involve close and unsupervised contact with vulnerable adults and children, carry out appropriate Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. The level of disclosure (Standard or Enhanced) should align with the nature of the volunteer’s role and duties.
Introductory and taster session
Offer volunteers the opportunity to experience the role through taster sessions. This allows the organisation to understand the volunteer’s approach to the role and provides the volunteer with a practical understanding of the role’s requirements.
Induction and training programs
Provide comprehensive induction and training programs to help volunteers understand their roles, the organisation’s safeguarding procedures and their responsibilities regarding safeguarding.
Supervision and support for volunteers
- Providing ongoing support to volunteers for effective safeguarding. This may include regular supervision, access to safeguarding training for volunteers and opportunities for volunteers to discuss any concerns or challenges they may face.
- Supervisors are responsible for providing guidance and support to volunteers, ensuring that safeguarding procedures are followed and addressing any concerns that they may have. Regular reviews should be in place to ensure volunteers feel supported. Implementing a buddy system, where another person accompanies the volunteer, is another effective method of support.
Resources
The Charity Commission – Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees
NCVO – Safeguarding and volunteers
NSPCC – Working with young volunteers
Interested in our safeguarding training for volunteers?
Volunteers should take safeguarding training that is appropriate to their role and the type of people they work with (children and/or adults at risk).
Our basic online safeguarding courses are suitable for all volunteers, providing an overall view of safeguarding and covering fundamental principles, signs of abuse and reporting procedures. If you only interact with children as a volunteer, you should take our Safeguarding Children course, which is tailored to teaching you about safeguarding children. Our Safeguarding Adults course helps you understand signs of abuse and neglect in vulnerable adults alongside the relevant legislation. For those volunteers that come into contact with vulnerable adults and children, you can take our combined course, Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults. You may also want to consider some of our specialised safeguarding training, such as our online Safeguarding Children in Sports course.
Contact our friendly customer support team if you need assistance in discussing your safeguarding training options.
Meet one of our safeguarding experts and author of this article
Anna Bowden is a key member of our in-house safeguarding training team. She has had an extensive career in education and leadership, with a wealth of knowledge gained through her work in schools, most recently as Head of School.
Her experience in education has given her expert understanding of safeguarding practices and a commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of pupils. In addition, her specialist knowledge, gained through hands-on experience, enables her to write high-quality content and deliver outstanding training that is learner-focused and informed by practical case studies.
